It has nothing to do with what people want to hear. It is simply a legal means of handling a payoff. The speaker could read Winnie the Pooh aloud and it would make no difference in the price.
Yup. It's the same with the book deals like the $67 million one Obama got and Hillary's current book she's hawking. They'll never sell enough books to recoup the money paid to Obama and Hillary, their average voter doesn't read much other than the label on Malt Liquor cans and their EBT card statements. It's just a legal way to funnel money to them without running afoul of bribery laws.
What does he now hold of value for them?
As Snake River Marksman said, it's for past services rendered. Also they still hold tremendous influence over the high brow hollywood and manhattan liberal set that finance a lot of the day operations of the democratic party. They're still worth a lot for that reason although I suspect Hillary and Bill's speaking fees have dropped considerably since she lost.
